The Ojai Post

Gas leaf blowers produce a tremendous amount of pollution. Santa Barbara banned them in 1998. Here's some more reading:

A Growing Clamor Over Leaf Blowers (Washington Post)

Leafblower Exchange Program (CA Green Solutions / AQMD)

Leaf Blowers’ Legacy: Leaf Blowers Cause Dust, Pollution, and Hearing Loss (Santa Barbara Independent)

The City Manager's assertion that the ordinance is unenforceable, as is the process of educating landscaping companies, is defeatist. Has he consulted with the Ojai Valley Green Coalition on policy and alternatives? What about making marketing material available to residents, to be passed out to landscaping companies?

There simply has to be a better solution than giving up and making Ojai a free-for-all for gas leaf blowers.

Who's pushing to repeal the leaf blower ordinance?

Ironically, code enforcement is also on the agenda (as in hiring a person).

Hey! We went to alot of work passing that ordinance in the 90's! Whoever wrote that staff report did not do their homework!

A longtime Ojai resident wrote the following:

The City Manager says the ordinance causes an "unrealistic expectation of enforcement."

That's one of the silliest bureaucratic phrases I've heard in years!

Yes, I guess we citizens do expect the City to enforce it's rules.

I notice the staff is willing to enforce rules that they think are important, like tearing down people's garage sale signs and hassling people who are renting out rooms to make ends meet. Maybe people need to do those things right now in order to survive.

Maybe the staff doesn't understand that inhaling a lung full of dust from a leaf blower is a matter of the public health being threatened. Perhaps they don't venture out into the city very often.

With so many people out of work, why not ban leaf blowers all together and bring back the broom and dustpan! There is an epidemic of child obesity in this country, and in this state. How about getting some of the little darlings off their TV couches and sweeping the streets?

Just because we don't have money to enforce them does not mean we should lower our standards.

Skateboarding , bicycling and smoking are all outlawed in the Arcade, and they can't possibly be enforced, but we don't get rid of the law just because we can't enforce it.

It's there because it's the will of the people. There were untold hours of testimony and debate that went into that ordinance. The people of Ojai and their reps passed a law saying we don't want leaf blowers. That's our standard, it says something about who we are.

It is disrespectful of the people of Ojai to propose wiping out a law because we don't have money to enforce it. It's hard to believe the City Manager would be that naive - it makes one wonder who is really behind this move.

With that kind of logic we might as well legalize marijuana...can't possibly haul all the Ojai pot smokers to jail! Besides, cigarettes, which are legal, are much more harmful...

thank you for posting this, Kenley! the full agenda can be downloaded in PDF format HERE (or simply read online HERE).

i too find the logic highly faulty and the motives suspicious, and share your (Kenley's) confusion/amusement that code enforcement is also on the agenda.

Tyler's assertion/suggestion that the Green Coalition (and, more loosely, the community at large) be involved in enforcement are spot on. i JUST recently successfully negotiated with the Area Housing Authority of the County of Ventura to urge their contracted grounds maintenance people to stop using their gas leaf blowers (and begin work only after 8am) per the ordinance in question. it took a little persistence, but it WORKED.

the Administrative Report (linked above in Kenley's original text, as the second RECOMMENDATION) makes the case that the only difference between leaf blowers and other "small mechanized tools" is the dust created...that in terms of noise and pollution, the ordinance ought to restrict or ban those other machines as well. thank you, and YES, WE CAN!

in Tuesday's City Council meeting, i plan to present some data i collected for the AHA regarding environmental health associated with lawn care machines, as well as a couple of concrete suggestions for proceeding (such as ditching leaf blowers completely on mostly-philosophical grounds and being progressive about the gas-to-electric trade-in program offered by the County).

Thank you Evan!

This can also be seen as a social justice issue. Working all day long with the sound of leaf blowers ringing in one's ears, (even with ear covers), plus inhaling the fumes and dirt, cannot be good for the health of the workers.

I meant "evan" -- habits are hard to break!

There have been numerous articles on the Ojai Post, by various authors, on leaf blowers and related issues. Search "leafblowers"

Here are two:

October 04, 2007:
It's the ubiquitous leaf blowers. They're back for another round!

http://www.ojaipost.com/2007/10/its_the_ubiquitous_leaf_blower.shtml

November 29, 2007:
Another Week On Planet Ojai: The Leaf Saga Continues!

http://www.ojaipost.com/2007/11/another_week_on_planet_ojai_th.shtml

Search Leaf Blowers (not "leafblowers")

http://www.ojaipost.com/2009/01/leaf_blowers_my_second_alarm_c.shtml

One is singing in my neighborhood right now!

I don't think it is enough simply to oppose this change in the existing ordinance. Somebody should initiate a full-scale investigation of what facts or circumstances prompted the City Manager to propose such a change.

I don't know what the mechanism is to initiate such an investigation but maybe it could begin with or include a PETITION TO FIRE THE CITY MANAGER on grounds that he would propose such an outrageous and unnecessary change in the existing ordinance.

i think that somebody is you, david

Yes, SUZA and the workers will love you for it! Maybe post authors (can turn off their computers) and start "policing" the neighborhoods for operating leaf blowers. evan needs a job for sure!

The workers prefer brooms and rakes to leaf blowers. What the workers want is a fair wage for their work - it is the home owners demand for a leaf-free yard that drives the demand for leaf blowers --not the workers!

My workers are more than happy to use a broom and rake, so long as I pay them a fair wage for their time.

Google Leaf Blowers. Do your homework. See what other cities are doing!

I am willing to compose the petition if somebody else is willing to take charge of it after that -- to print it out and find some young ladies to gather signatures.

I suggest the following language (but welcome suggested revisions):

We the undersigned believe it is the proper role of a City Manager:

a) not to create city policy, but to implement the policies determined by the people through their representatives;

b) where implementation is difficult, to creatively find ways and means, or to request necessary resources, to implement policies;

c) and above all, not to attempt to thwart the will of the people through calculated efforts to evade stated policies.

For a City Manager deliberately to attempt to overturn the will of the people merely on grounds that to implement their will is challenging or difficult represents a fundamental misunderstanding of his role and misappropriation of his responsibility.

Therefore, we hold Jere Kersnar in violation of his fundamental responsibilities with his proposal to overturn the ordinance against leaf-blowers merely on grounds that implementation of that ordinance is difficult.

For this reason, we hereby request the City Council to remove Jere Kersnar from his position as City Manager, and to find a new candidate for this position who will work to implement the will of the people, and not to thwart it.

I just finished reading the links that Tyler posted in Comment#1. They are excellent. I wonder if BUNNI LUV (cute name!) has read them.

"I am willing to compose the petition if somebody else is willing to take charge of it after that -- to print it out and find some young ladies to gather signatures."

But are you willing to sit down with our City Manager --man-to-man-- and personaly deliver this bold petition?

How about you show up Tuesday night and just express your concern in a friendly manner?

reply to "to david":

I don't think the petition goes to the City Manager -- he's not going to fire himself -- it goes to the City Council. If folks can raise a couple hundred signatures, I will deliver it to the Council.

honestly, david? you started off sounding like a blame-and-complainer. now you sound like a sexist blame-and-complainer.

david,
you dharma bunni... poit and we will fallow!

Look, this is no reason to fire anyone. Just show up Tuesday night, fill out your speaker card, and wait your turn to express your opinion.

yank god!....david will deliver petition.

That won't be necessary. Judging from the state of the world, he's already retired.

Since I'm not sure I can make the meeting on Tuesday, I did send the following message to each City Council member (with a CC to City Manager, City Planner)

Dear Council Member: Thank you for representing our community at City Council; your efforts are greatly appreciated. As a citizen, I don't always have the time to be actively engaged in the important discussions that take place at City Council but I always try to pay attention to what is being discussed. This week is a good example. I noticed on the agenda for Tuesday there is an effort to reverse one of the better ordinances we have in our City. Namely, the ban on motorized leaf blowers. Staff is seeking to repeal this ordinance (Section 5-11.05(e) of the Municipal Code), and I think this is a huge step backwards for Ojai.

In a time when environmental issues are at the top of the agenda for world, the nation, and for Ojai it seems unheard of to repeal something that many communities have taken great efforts to enact and enforce, primarily on the environmental grounds. Rather than provide you with a list of links to more information, I will point out the extensive discussion over the past two year on the Ojai Post. The discussion includes numerous links to research, facts, and experiences.

Please consider deeply the impact this small issue could have on our community environment.

Kind regards.
Kenley

I'm very curious as to the origin of the impetus to repeal the leaf blower ban ordinance. If we don't have the cash to enforce a whole variety of ordinances (light, noise, etc), then why this one, and are those next?

Who benefits by the repeal of this ordinance? It's not the residents of the community, from my perspective.

Curious: If you check the link to "temporarily-hiatusized" former Post commentator Dennis' blog on the left side ("La Ojai Valley EPost"), you can learn what is driving this. In short, as reported there - and as heard already by many in the community - former Mallory Way resident Appolonia complained many times to city hall about gas leaf blowers being used on behalf of the owner of the property, one of the Beckers. She of course got a deaf ear. Then she went and said something at a city council meeting, at which point, one of the councilpeople apparently asked if there was such an ordinance, and Kersnar apparently hemmed and hawed.

Result: Appolonia got evicted by Becker, and now staff wants to quietly repeal the leaf blower ordinance.

(As this is third-hand reporting, I make no guarantees as to accuracy of details. I am sure someone closer to this than I could fill in. Or, just go to Dennis.)

I e-mailed this comment to Betsy and others to get their opinion.